Press and Contact

Peter Waddell Paintings

Gallery

1
of
13

The Visit by Peter Waddell

Mary Livermore, a prominent abolitionist and women's rights activist, championed many causes including the U.S. Sanitary Commission that ran hospitals and collected supplies for soldiers during the Civil War. Livermore met with President Abraham Lincoln after he announced he would sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln later donated the original signed copy to raise money for the Commission. The Proclamation sold at auction for $3,000.

The White House Historical Association

2
of
13

The Great Cheese by Peter Waddell

President Andrew Jackson was famous for his public receptions, open to all. Some detractors described the crowds as mobs. The receptions were attended by hundreds, from the highest senator to the lowest rag-a-muffin of the city climbing in the windows. The centerpiece of this reception was a mammoth round of cheese, weighing 1,400 pounds.

The White House Historical Association

3
of
13

The Grand Illuminiation by Peter Waddell

One of the most beautiful features to ever adorn the White House was a stained glass screen designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, installed in the Entrance Hall in 1882. The vibrant screen had the greatest effect in natural light, but the times demanded electric light, which was installed during the Benjamin Harrison administration. The screen was removed in the 1902 renovation and later destroyed in a fire.

The White House Historical Association

4
of
13

A Favorable Day by Peter Waddell

Many presidential stables existed over the years, the last and grandest being the one built by Ulysses S. Grant. Finished in time for his second inaugural, the French-empire stable at 18th and E Streets housed Grants beloved war horses Cincinnati, Egypt, and Jeff Davishi's sulky racer Butcher Boy, and carriage horses, all tended by his coachman Albert Hawkins. The stable was converted as a garage for automobiles before being torn down in 1911.

The White House Historical Association

5
of
13

A Vision Takes Form by Peter Waddell

Although he never lived there, President George Washington not only selected the site of the new Presidents House, but also oversaw its construction to his particular specifications and demands. He was adamant that it be grand, with a façade of stone, not brick. Designed by the Irish-born architect James Hoban, the mansion was built with the labor of slaves, freemen, Irish artisans, and Scottish stone masons, whose marks can still be found on the White House today.

The White House Historical Association

6
of
13

Tiber Creek: The Bathers by Peter Waddell

Despite its later reputation as a swamp, the Tiber Creek, which in the nineteenth-century ran along where Constitution Avenue runs today, was idyllic with extensive plants and wildlife including the now extinct Carolina Parakeet. President John Quincy Adams liked to swim in its quiet waters. During this particular adventure with his son, John, and servant, Antoine Giusta, the boat carrying the party was leaky and began filling with water, leaving the president fighting for his life in the river! Luckily he reached the opposite shore, only to wait several hours for rescue.

The White House Historical Association

7
of
13

The Splendid Mrs. Madison by Peter Waddell

Dolley Madison was the first wife of a president to fully embrace her role as first lady. Her weekly levees at the Presidents House were a politically neutral space. One visitor wrote of entering the blazing splendor of Mrs. Madison's drawing room, designed by Benjamin H. Latrobe, and filled with political, military, and social figures of the day.

Peter Waddell for the White House Historical Association

8
of
13

Visitors from the East by Peter Waddell

When President James Buchanan welcomed a delegation from Japan to the White House, the foreign visitors considered it lacking, without towers or a moat. They did admit it was handsomely furnished. The three samurai were the first Japanese ever to visit the United States, and they became instant celebrities. For their part, the Japanese considered America to be an inferior society, not likely to last long.

The White House Historical Association

9
of
13

Composition in Red and Gold by Peter Waddell

President Chester A. Arthur, from New York City, was the beau ideal of fashion and, on entering the White House, called on his friend the artist Louis Comfort Tiffany to redecorate the Executive Residence. The most dramatic feature of the Red Room was the ceiling, covered in an intricate design of gold and bronze stars. As a widower, Arthur called on his sister Mary Arthur McElroy to fill the role of official hostess. The willful little dog named Tot, a Scottie, belonged to President Arthurs 12-year-old daughter Nellie.

The White House Historical Association

10
of
13

Something Blue (Captured by Color, 1886) by Peter Waddell

The beautiful Frances Folsom was only twenty-one years old when she married President Grover Cleveland, who was forty-nine, and the only president to marry in the White House. The ceremony took place in the Louis Comfort Tiffany-designed Blue Room looking out to the South Lawn. The rococo-revival blue furniture, purchased by Harriet Lane, President James Buchanan's niece, is still in the White House collection.

The White House Historical Association

11
of
13

A Bird that Whistles (In Jefferson's Cabinet, 1803) by Peter Waddell

President Thomas Jeffersons office, in the southwest corner of the house, was his private sanctuary that few visitors ever saw, but where he worked with his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, who would later lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was here that Jefferson enjoyed his many intellectual interests, including geography, plants, architecture, and animals. He kept a mocking bird as a pet, which would regale him with its sweetest notes.

Lafayette Square, once surrounded by residential houses and mansions was a grand neighborhood that included the White House. Benjamin H. Latrobe's Saint Johns Church, built in 1816, was soon followed by his design for Stephen Decatur's house, erected 1818-1819, on the northwest corner of the square. Dolley Madison spent her last years in a residence directly across the park on the northeast side of the square. In 1902 during the renovation of the White House, Theodore Roosevelt became a temporary square resident, living near Decatur House at 22 Jackson Place.

The White House Historical Association

13
of
13

The Confidant (First Lady Lucy Hayes and Her Maid, 1879) by Peter Waddell

Lucy Webb Hayes was a popular first lady and officially supported her own interests: children, education, and abolition. Her personal maid Mary, along with Mary's mother Winnie Monroe, were intimate members of the Hayes household and came from Ohio with the family to serve at the White House. A cat named Siam was sent to the Hayes children by the American consul in Bangkok; it was the first Siamese cat in the United States.